I have to agree with everyone who chose the Slav to complement your choice of Caro-Kann. And it isn’t going away anytime soon.

The Benko is probably the soundest gambit played. (And I’m still searching for a definite answer for White) The Benoni is playable with a lot of Fritz aided study. But not always achieved when playing someone who plays 1Nf3 or 1c4

The Budapest is easier for White to play. And again is not achieved against 1 Nf3 move order.

The Chigorin is combative but again not achieved against 1Nf3 2 d4 move order.

1…b6 is a nice universal IMHO.

I personally like going into 1 d4 d6 2 c4 e5 overall 56% for Black at this point … and white is really bad off if 3 de (only scoring 33%) Soltis published a book years ago.

With 1 …d6 you can still get a Modern Defence, King’s Indian Defence, Old Indian Defence, Hippo Defence, A Delayed Benoni, etc. If 2 e4 from white you can play a Czech Defence, Modern Defence, Pirc Defence, Hippo Defence, Philidor Defence, etc. ( I guess one thing I’m trying to convey is as your skills grow, your opening can grow as well without to much change … d6 … g6 … Bg7 …Nbd7 …e5 or c5, etc)

Well I know my posts bore most of you, just trying to help. Cheers, AJ

After a lot of thought, and one too many QGD's I've decided to have a go at the King's Indian. So my next question is, are there any good books or DVD's on the King's Indian? I need something that will go through the ideas behind the opening because I've never played it before. Then I could ask for my wife to get it for me as a birthday present in February! 8) (she's already bought my Xmas pressies and I think Santa will be dropping a copy of Fritz 11 down my chimney later this month! :) ) Well, I think I deserve it, I've have been a really good boy this year - I did buy my wife a house, after all... :lol:

I would strongly suggest Gallagher's book. Given your situation, it is an ideal choice. In fact I find the whole Starting out: -series excellent.I have about 25 books on King's Indian alone. Many of the great players want to have their 'say' on the subject. These include: Kasparov, Bronstein, Gligoric, Gufeld and Averbakh.

I would strongly suggest Gallagher's book. Given your situation, it is an ideal choice. In fact I find the whole Starting out: -series excellent.I have about 25 books on King's Indian alone. Many of the great players want to have their 'say' on the subject. These include: Kasparov, Bronstein, Gligoric, Gufeld and Averbakh.

Thanks mrmip,

I think I'll try the 'Starting Out' Gallagher book. I have some others in the series and like the format and that particular book seems to have good reviews. 8)

You could try the Budapest Gambit/Defence (depending on who you talk to) 1.d4, Nf6 2.c4, e5?! Which is my personal favourite, mainly because of a great mating trap which I’ve had about 5 opponents fall for this season under normal time controls. There are different move orders but it goes something like this: 3.dxe5, Ng4 4.Nf3, Nc6 5.Bf4, Bb4+ 6.Nbd2, Qe7 7.a3, Ngxe5 8.axb4?? Nd3# Of course that’s by no means a forced variation, there are many other ways for White to play against it, but 8 out of 10 times my games have followed that line because they are all natural moves if White has never seen the Budapest before.

If you’re opponent is on the ball Black usually has to give up the bishop pair, but the advantage is all the minor pieces can come off by move 15, and you can play for a draw against strong opposition, or try and out-fox weaker players in an end game.

The one problem is, you can only play the Budapest if White plays 2.c4 – obviously there are other common second moves like Nf3 in which case e5 would just loose a pawn for nothing. But I’m happy to go into a Kings Indian from there (after all if you’re opponent has played 2.Nf3 he obviously has a passive opening like the London System in mind) but if you don’t like/know the KID then you can always play 2...d5 and get into a standard Queen’s pawn game or maybe the Black side of a Catalan, both of which aren’t particularly aggressive for White.

Thanks for the suggestion! I've tried out the King's Indian quite a few times now, and I like it. I've yet to explore the Budapest properly, but it certainly seems to be a popular suggestion. Lots of nice tactics to catch out the unwary!

As you say, the trouble is that if white doesn't play 2.c4 then it's not an option...

I still fall back on the QGD when I'm feeling like a more solid game. :)

I still fall back on the QGD when I'm feeling like a more solid game. :)

The problem with the classical QGD is it’s very hard for Black to get any kind of offence going if you’re opponent is on the ball (plus you’re opponent in playing 1.d4 wants you to play 1…d5 - as a former Queens pawn player, I always had a little internal groan with 2…Nf6).

There are a few little tricks I’ve developed as black, such as playing 1.d4, d5 2.c4, e6 3.Nc3, h6 - this stops White getting into the classical lines with Bg4 and he will usually play something like the inferior Steinitz line with Bf4, because he’s in a rush to play e3. But I don’t think it’s enough to establish an advantage against a stronger White player.

The Semi-Slav is often a good bet (in fact I’ve come across quite a lot of players who are terrified of it and immediately play the exchange variation 3.cxd5 which equalises for black immediately). The downside is, if White goes into the main line you really have to know you’re book :)